Fallout 4: The Sole Survivor
by Post Baily
Summary: All places, characters, events, images and even dialogue belongs to Bethesda Game Studios. Fallout 4: The Sole Survivor is a literary undertaking of mine to put pieces of the world of Fallout into words and make a novelization out of the game. Reviews, support and comments are greatly appreciated. Warning for dark themes, violence and language.
1. Chapter 1

((Note from the author: I know this isn't what everyone has been waiting for and I'm sorry. I haven't forgotten and/or entirely abandoned the other fiction. I'll tell you right now I struggle with depression and it makes it hard to write and sometimes it takes a long time to get back to what I was doing. Years even, as you can see. Let me get this one out before I get back to Fable 2 and The Fifth Element. I've loved the Fallout universe for nearly a decade so this was bound to happen. I don't know how dedicated I'll be to finishing the entire Fallout 4 story line but we'll see. Also, this is a long ass chapter. I hope you enjoy it))

 **One: The Day the World Ended**

 **War. War never changes. In the year 1945 my great great grandfather, serving in the army, wondered when he would get to go home, to his wife and the son he'd never seen. He got his wish when the US ended the war by dropping nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.**

 **The world awaited Armageddon, but instead something miraculous happened. We began to use atomic energy not as a weapon but as a nearly limitless source of power.**

 **People enjoyed luxuries once thought in the realm of science fiction. Domestic robots, fusion powered cars, portable computers.**

 **But then in the twenty first century people awoke from the American dream. Years of consumption led to shortages of every major resource. The world unraveled. Peace became a distant memory. It is now the year 2077, we stand on the brink of total war. And I am afraid, for myself, for my wife, for my infant son, because if my time in the army taught me anything, it's that war, war never changes.**

"War.. warfare? Conflict never changes?"

The face in the mirror moved closer, muttering the words under his breath.

Nate Roberts was demonstrably a lucky man; nice looking neighborhood, nice looking house, one little bun recently delivered and one _very_ nice looking-

"Honestly, darling, it's a little grim."

Wife. Nora had snuck up behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist. He wondered what she saw when she looked into the mirror. They were, arguably, a nice looking couple. He had always felt his nose was a little prominent, and the near permanent five o' clock shadow was a gift of Italian heritage but Nora said it gave him 'character'. Certainly he wasn't going to complain as his wife brushed soft lips underneath his ear. He must be doing something right. She pulled back and smiled.

"But accurate. Did you want to hear about the Selective Training and Service Act we were discussing in the office today?"

He squeezed the hand on his chest. "Not whatsoever."

She laughed playfully and pulled away. "Spoilsport.

"You're going to knock em' dead at the Veteran's Hall tonight, hon."

"You think?"

"Absolutely. Now stop hogging the mirror."

With a spirited swat to the behind he left Nora to finish her morning routine and stepped into the hallway of the relatively new house he and his wife had occupied for the last three years.

Suburban life was as boring as it was challenging. Nora and himself were one of the younger couples on the block, though Nate had just celebrated his 38 birthday and Nora was three years behind him, he still often felt like a damned teenager with the Morrisons (respectively 101 and 98 years old and still going strong) to the left of them, always bringing over photos of their great-grandchildren and giving well-meaning advice towards their newest addition.

The Pritchards, across the street, were working on a fourth, while their eldest, Emma, had already offered babysitting services. With the recent renovations and additions to the household, however, it wasn't really necessary but Nate hadn't the heart to tell the kid that, and hell, maybe he could find something for her to do, she seemed so eager for responsibility.

He knew there was some tension with the neighbors; with both he and Nora having well paid jobs, they could afford some of the nicer things in life, and that always inspired some jealousies in people.

From the kitchen came the sound of bustling, dishes clinking and the familiar noise of the coffee maker. Their newest acquisition and 'nicer thing' was busy creating the perfect morning.

'Ah, Good morning, Sir! Your coffee, 173.5 degree Fahrenheit. Brewed to perfection! And todays newspaper, just delivered."

Codsworth the robotic butler from the latest line of Mister Handy, a RobCo product, fairly danced around the kitchen, if one could term it as such. He was more like a jet-propelled swiss-army knife ball of helpfulness and damned if Nate couldn't imagine how he had gone his entire life without the services that Codsworth offered.

"Mm, amazing as always. Thanks, Codsworth."

Most people found it odd that he and Nora treated the service robot so, well, humanely, as though he were a real breathing thinking butler, but honestly you just couldn't help it. Whatever the lads got up to at the RobCo Laboratory, they were coming up with technology that so closely imitated life that Nate occasionally got the urge to pry open the welded ball of metal that was Codsworth to make certain there wasn't a tiny grey-haired Brit stuck inside.

Nate settled into his chair and opened the newspaper, grimacing. While most people were happy to ignore tension and turmoil the front page left no doubt that the world was a troubled place.

He was jolted out of a recap of the presidential speech concerning foreign policies by two simultaneous noises of both a baby crying and the doorbell ringing. Laughing, he stood uncertain which took priority.

"Ah, that would be young Shaun, having made a Stinky, no doubt. Never fear, Sir, I shall attend to the young man."

Codsworth propelled himself out of the room which left Nate to the door, that was currently being abused by whoever was on the other side.

"Hon, you getting that?"

Nora called from the bathroom.

"It's probably that Vault Tec man again, don't worry, I got it." Nate replied, crossing the living room as he spoke.

Beaming brightly in a suit that was an almost offensive shade of yellow complete with matching fedora hat stood possibly the most disgustingly cheerful door salesman to have ever entered the Sanctuary Hills Private Residence.

"We have to stop meeting like this."

It was almost worth it to see the look of blank astonishment on the man's face but the Vault Tec representative was nothing if not resilient in the face of a difficult customer. Chuckling he replied,

'Oh, you, now you, sir, are a Character. On behalf of Vault-Tec I am here to discuss YOU! As the future of our world becomes more-"

"I've heard this already."

" unstable, we are all about you! Securing YOUR future, Vault-tec is the foremost-"

"Look, a three headed monkey!"

" builder of state-of-the-art underground fallout shelters. Luxury accommodations, constructed with the specification of waiting out the horrors of nuclear devastation with the upmost in comfort, providing hope when –"

Nate sighed and let the man continue. He should have known by now, after three visits that this particular Vault-Tec representative stuck to his script like a life line and nothing, perhaps not even the nuclear destruction they were being threatened with, could derail him from glorifying the wonder that was Vault 111.

The construction had begun even before Nate had carried Nora over the threshold of their home, and in fact had been a favorite topic amongst the neighbors who liked to complain about the noise and activity surrounding the dig, but were covertly miffed by the mystery surrounding the great underground shelter. Access was strictly prohibited and nosy neighbors were deterred by the presence of armed guards. So great did Vault-Tec value its privacy, that they even had several Power Suits – the latest in lethal efficiency. A modern day suit of armor powered by a fusion core and strong enough to absorb possibly even a nuclear strike. Provided, of course, it was at a distance.

The Vaults had been popping up all over the country and were as celebrated as they were mocked. One famous senator had called them a terrible waste of resource and money, unneeded and unnecessary as a screen door on a submarine. There was still a great deal of confidence in the country, and the Vaults were unpatriotic and Vault-Tec was a top company that held its secrets close to their money lined vests.

Popular television shows and news reels had interviewed various figures involved in the multi-million company, but getting a straight answer out of them was notoriously difficult. Through his connections, Nate had heard rumors, whispers, that the company had its hand in more than just futuristic comforts. Whether or not they had been true was something he never felt the need to investigate.

The base of their slogan was just as the Vault Tec Corporate representative had said –

'Revolutionizing Safety for an Uncertain Future'.

Nate couldn't argue with that. His neighbors only read the papers, watched the news, but Nate – he had been on the front lines, had blood on his hands and had seen what was marching towards the greatest country on the planet.

He had used all his military clout to carve out a space in the vault for himself and his growing family using the old adage 'prepare for the worst, hope for the best'.

It had worked well for him so far.

"-so if you would just sign one last form, we can welcome you to the Vault-Tec family! Complimentary hat and mug included with the final down payment, of course."

"Of course." he said wryly.

"And-there we! Go! All done!"

The Vault-Tec Rep flourished the sheets of paper with a beaming grin and a flick of the wrist placed them back into his briefcase.

"Congratulations, Sir, _congratulations_ on your purchase –"

"Yes, thank you-"

"-won't be disappointed, oh the beauty! The majesty of the size-"

"I'm going to need that hand back."

"You won't be disappointed, I promise!"

"Mmmkay, yes, thank you."

It wasn't without effort and a few more 'congratulations' before Nate was able to shut the door. From behind him peals of laughter jostled him out of exasperation and made him grin as he turned to see Nora holding the baby against her shoulder as she wiped tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Oh, well done, darling. Couldn't have, ha, done it better myself. That was an entire twenty five minutes shorter than the last visit."

Nate circled his arm around his wife and ran his hand over his son's sleeping head.

"Ha. Flatterer. You just didn't want to deal with him yourself. Admit it."

"Guilty. What do you intend to do about it, Mr. Roberts?"

Nora's dark eyes went sharp and hungry and didn't wait for an answer from him and Nate returned the kiss with interest.

"Sir! Mum! You had better come and see this!"

The two broke away as though ice water had been dashed over their heads. The hair on Nate's neck rose for he had _never_ heard Codsworth use that tone of voice. How on earth a robot could convey terror was a marvel Nate had no time consider.

Both he and Nora ran into the living room.

Codsworth was fidgeting with all appendages, actually making the motions of wringing his metaphorical hands as the tentacle-like eye receptors focused intently on the television. The television had been just a pleasant background distraction, easily ignored, but now the broadcaster was staring at the camera like he had seen a ghost.

"… followed by, yes, followed by flashes. Blinding flashes. Sounds of explosions… We're…. we're trying to get confirmation…

We seem to have lost contact with our affiliate stations… we… we do have … coming in…confirmed reports. I repeat, confirmed reports of nuclear detonations in New York and Pennsylvania. My God."

The television blinked out as though someone had cut the cable.

There was a moment of silence so deep, so full of petrified horror that Nora's gasp of breath made Nate jump.

"We need to get to the vault, _now_!"

The harshness in her voice was alien, rasping and desperate and shook Nate out of the shock that held him immobile, frantically trying to deny what he had just heard. Deeply ingrained training kicked in and he pushed Nora and the sleeping Shaun towards the door.

"Just like we practiced, Nora. Stop for nothing, take nothing, don't let anyone stop you, just get to vault. I'll be right behind you."

She reached for the door but paused and turned.

"Codsworth!"

It was a sad and heart wrenching cry and Nate paused just behind her. Their faithful robot butler hovered over the coffee table and waved his appendages.

"Go! Sir, Mum – it has been an honor but you must go! God speed to you…"

Outside was pandemonium. They had hardly made it down the driveway before the air sirens started, splitting the air, shaking Nate's gut with the scream of danger. It was all he could do to just breathe – it was happening, _this was actually happening._

The entire neighborhood was streaming down the Sanctuary Hills road like a frantic mob, screaming, cursing, praying and weeping. One neighbor (what had been their name? They lived a couple blocks away) simply sat on the concrete sidewalk and stared, dazed, at the crowds of people rushing by.

A shot rang out and the people screamed. Nate jerked his head behind him to see Mr. Morrison holding the bloodied body of his wife in his lap on the well-manicured lawn of their home as he turned the pistol towards himself…

Nora made a terrible noise in her throat and he grabbed her free elbow and pulled her harshly along.

"No!, Don't look, baby, don't look."

They were heading towards the small dirt pathway between the Bredeson's and the Sparks homes that led to the wooded area behind Sanctuary Hills. Vault 111 had been built into the base of the mountain that the subdivision had sprung up around.

Military personal that had been stationed around the vault were all along the rocky steep path, wrangling people, shoving them towards the Vault, screaming at them to stay in line but they may as well have tried to stem a flood with a colander.

He grabbed the shoulder of a soldier, barking out his rank and confirmation number.

"Where is the entrance to the vault!?"

The soldier was really just a kid, couldn't have been more than 22. White faced and determined he pointed up the path.

"Sir! Up the path and to the left you will come to the check point. Good luck, Sir!"

"You as well, son."

Here, towards the leveled top of the hill, Nate could see a gathering crowd. Chain-link fence guarded the border of the Vault 111 property, along with dozens of military personal. Only a handful of people were trickling through the opening in the gate.

Using one broad shoulder he relentlessly shoved his way to towards the front of the line, noting a familiar yellow hat and coat that was cursing at the armed guard; intimidating and immovable in their Power Armor.

With one arm firmly around Nora, silent and terrified, he shouted across a dozen voices screaming to be let in,

"Nate Roberts, 108th Infantry Regiment, number one dash zero-"

"Cleared, Sir. We got word just a moment ago. Wife, child, everything checks out – hurry up and get in there."

Wasting no time the small family dashed past the guards while the people behind them roared in anger.

No time to think, to sympathize. God only knew how long before those bombs dropped – they needed to be behind shielded doors when they did.

"What's going to happen to those people?" Nora asked, breathless and quiet.

Nate didn't answer.

Another guard in a uniform waved them towards the very top of the hill. Dotted along the landscape were obvious signs that the Vault had only just been completed; heavy machinery and dozens of metal pallets and paraphernalia were stacked neatly before the control box that over looked the opening of Vault 111.

The guard pointed towards the gigantic metal platform and yelled over the noise,

"Sir! Ma'am! We need to send you down to the Vault, step on the platform!"

A kind of railing surrounded the giant metal platform; lights were blinking red, while a rhythmic alarm indicated that something mechanical was going on. There was motorized grinding and the ground beneath Nate's feet vibrated as the Vault prepared itself to lower the last group down to its debts.

Shaun had woken, finally, and was crying as Nora rocked him against her shoulder.

"Almost there, is Shaun okay?"

"Fine, he's fine. We'll be fine. I love you."

Nate brought both of them into an embrace as they crowded with the other people. Finally, with a gut-wrenching jolt, the platform began its descent.

In the back of his mind, Nate had been hoping that this was all a mistake. Everything was surreal, stretched out. The military guards attempting to control a desperate and wild crowd of people, the frightened and anguished faces he called neighbors, the strong morning light that glinted off the metal railings of Vault 111 and the quiet shock of the lucky few around him all mixed up with the crazy thought that maybe this was a hoax, maybe they could just go home and he could finish his coffee, and maybe later he and Nora and the baby could go to the park -

The sky shattered with light so searing, so bright that even as he covered his face with his hands _he could make out the bones through his closed lids_.

The world was ending. With fire, with light, with a power beyond comprehension that would lay waste to everything it touched.

He could feel his body moving, could feel Nora shaking next to him, clutching an arm around his back so tightly it was actually painful.

There was nothing but a terrible roar, like a thousand freight trains, blotting out everything- even his own scream of terror.

Darkness. Silence.

The platform had served its purpose and moved them away from the surface, away from the terrible light and fire. The place where they stood was quickly becoming a tiny pinpoint of light as the Vault's elevator system moved them deep into the mountain.

* * *

The lift finally came to a stop at the presumed base of the mountain. Asides from snuffling and repeated murmurs of 'I can't believe it' and 'if we had left a moment later' the small group was silent in its grief and shock.

Nate could only stare at his tiny son's face, unaware and red from being jostled without consideration. He had quieted down but his tiny fists grasped his mother's dark hair as if searching for an anchor. Nora stared ahead blankly, unseeing. Nate pulled her tighter against him.

Against all the odds they had survived and that had lit a tiny fire of jubilation inside of him. _They had survived_.

"We did it. We're okay…." he murmured into Nora's hair.

The lift stopped its rattling and the hydraulics moved the double gates aside to the unexpected.

The Vault-Tec staff awaited them, smiling brightly, looking neat and immaculate in white over coats and clip boards firmly in hand. It looked like a dozen or so technicians and even more security behind them. A man stepped forward.

"No need to worry folks! We'll get everyone situated in your new home, Vault 111! A better future, underground!"

Shaking hands and gently pushing the shell shocked group forward Nate let himself be moved and felt his detached mind study the firm face of man who welcomed them.

Clearly he was the one in charge; the form fitting full length blue suit had a tiny silver insignia on his right chest that must have meant some kind of rank.

There was no hesitation or unease in his face as he kindly helped those around him.

The bay of Vault 111 was a cavernous room filled with complicated looking machinery that moved the lift and the great security door that had kept all of them dying just minutes ago. It was like nothing Nate had ever seen in his life; he had no idea that such a thing existed right under their home practically.

Someone from the crowd said, hesitating, "So, we just…"

"That's right everyone, right up these stairs. Just a few procedures to get out of the way and we'll get you all settled. No need to worry, you are quite safe with us."

The crowd moved slowly, herded along by technicians.

It was like stepping into a science fiction novel. Long corridors of steel, ventilation shafts, high ceilings ( _how far under the earth are we?_ ) with embedded lighting ( _how is it powered?_ ) bright as noon day sun, giant cables that ran underneath the perforated steel walkway ( _where did the technology able to do this come from?)_ all of it passed too quickly for Nate to really grasp what was going on.

The steps led to another room filled with tables and the surviving refugees. Several doctors bent over bloodied and hurt individuals while others lined up before a woman who was shouting,

"Please step this way for your Vault Tec suit! State of the art, self-regulated cooling and heating, one –size-fits-all Vault Suit! That's right, this way! Please no pushing, there are plenty for everyone!"

Nate shortly stepped out of the changing stall to pull gingerly at the spandex-like material that was… a little _too_ form fitting for his tastes. He wasn't sure how much he liked the lady Vault Tec staff members staring at his backside as the suit left little to the imagination.

It was decent material though; thick, surprisingly comfortable yet heavy. He could feel wires and _things_ running through the joints and chest area. He made a mental note to ask later what exactly went into making the suit.

Behind him Nora was still silent and withdrawn, holding Shaun closely to her chest while her other arm held the Vault Tec suit still in its plastic wrapping.

One of the lab coat technicians (doctor?) extended a hand and said kindly,

"All right, you three, step this way, please. Follow me."

"Don't we need to sign in or something? Don't you need-"

"No, no. We have already have all the Vault dwellers on record."

"How, may I ask, do you-"

"Now, now. Questions later, please. Follow me."

Trying to inject a sense of normalcy to the situation ( _but the world, the world above, it's_ _ **gone**_ _isn't it? Nothing normal about it, is there Captain Roberts?_ ) Nate forced a smile and said to Nora,

"See? This will be our new home. We're all right. It's going to be all right."

At least this time, Nora managed a weak smile and followed beside him as the doctor led them down another corridor.

"Oh, you're going to love it here!"

The doctor's voice echoed strangely in the widely spaced metal hallway.

"This is one of our most advanced facilities, spared no expense! In the last decade you can't believe how far Vault Tec has come-"

He chuckled.

"Well, perhaps you can. All you need is to look around you. Not that the other Vaults aren't as great, mind you, but Vault 111 is special…"

They continued on and if Nate was honest with himself, he was a bit lost and overwhelmed. The underground Vault was very much like a rat maze and if he wasn't mistaken they were going even deeper underground.

"How long do you think we'll be down here? I mean, how do we get food and.. well, air? Is there-"

"Oh, we'll be going over all that in the orientation. You needn't worry about it."

Through the thick comfortable fog of shock that kept Nate sedate and almost compliant with his surroundings something was rising to the surface. A warning was itching between his shoulder blades. ( _but the world, Captain, the world ended. Of_ _ **course**_ _you aren't happy, who would be? Why do they keep telling us not to worry? That's the second time a question has been evaded...)_

"Almost there now! Just a few medical items we need to get through first. Please step this way."

As the doctor spoke he led them into a large room that held several long rows of some kind of containers. Nate stared openly. Each was just large enough to fit a single adult and indeed, all up and down the rows were people in blue suits being helped into the pods by the white coated technicians.

"This is…"

"The Decontamination Center! You must understand that being so close to the blast you have been affected by some amount of radiation. Here, we will remove all contaminants and make sure you are in the pink of health before we move you deeper into the facility!"

Calm, cheerful, rational. An explanation for everything. Beside him Nora had stopped. She had never really been fond of tight spaces to begin with.

"Honey, do what the doctor says. You'll be in and out before you know it."

Another technician approached them.

"Ma'am, you need to put on your suit. Regulations, you understand. Here, I can hold your baby-"

"No!"

Curious eyes turned to stare at Nora as she turned abruptly away from the staff reaching out to hold Shaun.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry but you need to-"

"He doesn't like strangers. I don't want the suit-"

"We must follow procedure, Ma'am. Please put on the-"

Sensing an oncoming storm (God help the fool who got on Nora's bad side) Nate reached out to pluck his dozing son out of Nora's arms.

"It's all right, Hon. I got him. Go ahead and change."

She hesitated, then nodded.

Finally, with everything settled they were led to the end of the aisle to the last two unoccupied pods. Nate cradled Shaun carefully as he sat down in the chair and asked nervously,

"This won't have any adverse effects on him, will it? He's seven months old, I'm not exactly comfortable-"

"The technology has been thoroughly tested, Mr. Roberts. Your son will take no adverse reaction, I promise. We are simply removing any radiation and other contaminants; please believe me it is in his best interest that you comply. There we go, lie back and relax, this will only take a moment."

Technicians busied themselves around the two pods. From across the aisle Nora sat stiffly in the chair and stared at Nate with frightened eyes. He smiled, trying to reassure his wife. Later, he would take her in his arms, later he would hold her tight and help her into this new world.

"Time for a whole new life!"

The door closed and Nate tried to ignore the leap of fear and nervousness as things hissed and made noise around him. From a speaker above his head he heard,

"Resident secure. Occupant vitals, normal."

Was it his imagination or were things getting… colder? It was hard to tell through the suit; it certainly was doing its job in keeping body warmth in.

White steam rose up around him and deep inside himself he realized he should be alarmed, angry but he only felt … sleepy. Leaden, unable to lift his head. He could taste something chemical in the back of his throat as he took a deep breath, trying to get oxygen into his lungs but that only seemed to pull him deeper.

Sounding as though it was coming from a far way away he heard the robotic voice continue,

"Procedure complete. In...five….four….three…"

Cold. Oh, so cold, all limbs were deadened. Nate was falling into a great black void that was sucking all knowledge and consciousness with it. A tiny spark of unwilling thought burst through with one last coherent thought, and that was those damned doctors were going to have some explaining to do when he got out of this metal coffin…

"..one."

* * *

Darkness. Silence. Nothing, no one. No… one? Nate? His name. Heavy, he was heavy. Something was… sound. He could hear.. sound. Insistent. Buzzing. Rhythmic. It's a…warning. The warning alarm. Was the house on fire? No, Codsworth was too well programmed to allow a house fire… house… light… heat…

A great bright flash in the sky… heat… light!

Nate gasped and jerked his body forward, trying to scream only to choke on it deep in his throat.

The automated system repeated itself,

"Manual override initiated. Cryogenic stasis, suspended."

The door was opening and the air that rushed in felt like fire on the exposed skin of his face, his hands. His body was shivering uncontrollably. Nate drew deep breathes, almost sobbing from the pain, like thousands of tiny shards of glass being drawn into his lungs. Against his chest Shaun started to move feebly.

Over his own deep, wrenching coughs he could hear his baby boy muster up some weak cries and he almost wept. Shaun was okay. He was alive. Nora!

He cracked open crusted eyes to look across the aisle that separated them. The square cut glass to the metal pod she lay in was partially visible. His wife struggled in the chair, body convulsing with coughs he could barely hear through the closed pod door. What was…?

"Here. This is the one."

Voices. Footsteps, coming closer. Was his eye sight bad, or was the entire room nearly pitch black? He groaned, feeling as though his entire body was simultaneously on fire and frozen. Two people. One (a woman? That had been a woman's voice) had a full hazmat suit on, face covered in the white dome-like shielding and the other…

"Is.. is it over? Are we okay?"

Nate's voice sounded weak to himself, small. The man looked at him for a moment. Not a doctor, not a technician. Not unlike some of the men he had run with in the military before his retirement. Cold, dead eyes. Jagged scar across his face. Heavy armored plates across his chest.

Nate felt fear and confusion rise up in him. … _what_..?

"Almost. Everything is going to be fine."

If it was meant to soothe it fell short. The words dropped from the man's mouth like stones; cold and hard.

Even through the confusion Nate could feel his hackles rise. Something, something was not right. He needed to get up. He needed to protect his wife and son. _He needed to get up!_

Limbs would not respond, he could barely lift his head.

The woman shuffled closer to him, holding out her arms, crooning, almost nervous.

"Here, come here… let me take him."

He tightened his arms around his crying son.

"No, I… wait, I've got him."

Smoothly, quickly, like a striking snake the man pulled a large pistol and pointed it at Nate's head.

Incredulously Nate's mind automatically catalogued the weapon and the man holding it.

 _Colt M1911, military issue. Well trained, no wasted movement, no hesitation. Mercenary._

"I'm only going to say this once. Give us the boy."

The pull of hammer of the gun was almost deafening the cold silence of the room and Nate knew he was looking at his death. And he responded the only way possible.

"I will not give you my son."

There was no pain, there was no time. In the sparse moments between the blinding explosion of bullet and nothingness Nate only had a single second to spare a terrible and sad thought that he would be leaving Nora and Shaun alone for whatever Fate had in store for them.

Then there was only darkness.

The man cursed vehemently over the loud cries of the baby and gestured angrily to the slumped figure.

"Grab the kid and let's get out of here."

The figure in the white suit seemed shaken; she clumsily pried the still screaming child from limp, unresponsive arms, nearly tripping in haste to get away from the gore and blood that stood out in stark contrast to her pristine white suit.

The man with the gun absentmindedly wiped the blood off of his face and lazily regarded the last cryogenic pod that currently held the hysterical sobbing woman who was futilely beating her fists against the reinforced glass.

After a moment he walked up to the thick plated steel door and looked dispassionately at the person inside as though she were a mildly interesting zoo animal.

Not bad looking; even in her angry agitated state she would be considered a looker. Scrawny from the time spent in cryo, that ridiculous Vault suit hugged every curve that might amount to something if she had a few square meals. It was an entertaining thought that if he let her out, she might give a few amusements before putting a bullet between her pretty dark eyes just as he had done her husband. However, duty called.

He smiled and said over his shoulder,

"At least we have a backup. Close it up, we're out of here."

The last sound that echoed throughout the silent chamber was the weak beating of fists on metal and the dispassionate electronic voice that said,

"Cryogenic sequence, reinitialized."


	2. Chapter 2

Fallout 4: The Sole Survivor

Two: Dead and Not

Death was chilled, and was felt to the very bone, and felt surprisingly like the day after a weekend bender with aching regret and misery. It was felt right behind the eyes, and in the throat, like a scream that brought blood to the lips.

Death also had a voice, which surprised Nora. She, like most Americans, had a vague concept of pearly gates and heavenly hosts but pragmatism had always leaned towards the likelihood of just a place of floating blackness, a void, where nothing existed.

" – residents….-uate, immediately."

There had been vague memories of something terrible, like being thrown into the pits of hell, if hell was freezing and filled with flashes of light and fire.

Nora opened her eyes, and then immediately realized _she had just opened her eyes_ and that thought send her heart hammering.

 _She wasn't dead._

It was as though a switch had been flipped inside her body as senses came alive.

"Critical failure in Cryogenic Array. All Vault residents must evacuate immediately."

Nora gasped, then coughed, deep in her chest, then tried to cry out but had no voice. The metal coffin she lie in was being filled with some kind of mist, ejected from an array of metal nozzles just above her head.

It was an invasive cocktail of stinging sweetness; it slipped down her throat, stung her eyes and each moment that passed her body made her aware of what bad shape she was in. She slumped down, legs quivering and unable to hold the weight of her own frame.

With a shocked raw breath, Nora pitched forward as the pod door opened abruptly; spilling her out onto a hard concrete floor. The weakness of her muscles probably saved her from a serious concussion, as she had no ability to resist with legs and arms made of jelly so she more or less flopped over the cold ground without serious injury.

Head spinning, body shivering she could only lay helpless as the words to evacuate the facility repeated themselves, over and over.

Dimly Nora wondered where the staff was; surely someone would have heard or seen the door open and it wasn't as though those deep body-shaking coughs she was giving were discreet. Maybe they had already evacuated?

Minutes passed.

A small bit of strength returned to her, enough to allow her to roll her body so she was on her back instead of an awkward jumble of limbs arranged on the floor.

With a shock she remembered she hadn't been alone. Wildly, she jerked her head to the left to find the door to Nate's pod… Nate…

In the giant silent room the screams bounced across metal and concrete like a jackhammer; merciless and raw and terrible that drowned out even the repeated robotic warning. When the voice broke, finally, it settled down to weeping jagged and gulping breathes that simultaneously pleaded like a broken record,

" _Please, please, someone help. Someone help me, help me, help. Someone… someone help me… "_

But no answer came.

* * *

She didn't know when she had slept, only that there had been a merciful brief interlude of nothingness borne out of sheer exhaustion and there was no small part of Nora that wondered if it would be better if she should just give up here and allow herself to slide back into that tempting black nothingness.

A vague thought had passed through her head that if she wondered just how alone she was, deep in this mountain, in this graveyard of perfectly preserved bodies of neighbors and friends, she had her answer as her voice had bounced back to her in the stillness of the room. No one had been here in a long time and no one was coming.

The room spoke of long isolation, of dust so thick that it muffled sound like snow. It spoke of a cemetery, and of a crime that had been perfectly preserved. If she bothered to crane her head to the right she could see the untouched bloody imprints of two sets of feet.

One of a heavier tread; a work boot, large, clearly a man, and the other small and dainty. Her husband's blood was tracked all the way to the metal doorway clear at the end of the long room, an image Nora had seared into her mind's eye.

How much time had passed? Since regaining consciousness, since being thrown into her own personal hell, one not of brimstone and heat but cold damp silence and the prison of her own immovable body? She was so weak, _so weak_! The pain of lying on a hard floor had now passed from screaming agony to a dull roar, numbed by the damp chill of lying too close to her opened pod that still radiated ice and her own brain, still trying to desperately cling to the idea that this was all a bad dream.

The only thing that broke the silence was her own voice, small, scratchy and swallowed by silence of the large room.

"Well, Mrs. Callahan, this is a pickle, make no mistake."

A drawn breath, shaky and uneven.

"- you are surely correct, it IS unseemly for a woman, a mother no less! to be splayed so openly on the floor like a Sunday drunkard, but as I told you before, I can't seem to be able to lift my head, nonetheless my legs.

By the way, you still have my cooking pan I lent you, were you ever planning on returning it to me? Don't answer that, I can see you're occupied with being dead."

Nora laughed without sound, chest tightening, knowing her sanity was on a thin edge, but continued the conversation.

"Stop badgering me, Mr. Russell, I know a body can't stay on the cold ground for long without inviting the grave. Though I must say, this vault suit certainly seems to be doing a fine job of insulation; I hardly feel the cold at all. I can't- I can't get up, so just stop- _stop telling me to stand up_!"

The panting puffs of air that escaped her mouth gave out little vaporous clouds.

A sob burst out of her raw throat.

" _Shaun_ , oh God, Shaun!"

There was a heart-wrenching groan followed by a long scraping sound. Nora's hands and knees scrabbled against the concrete.

"I know, Mrs. Callahan, that a body doesn't- doesn't get anything done by crying. Look, I've gone five feet."

Her breath was coming in desperate gasps, almost as though she was running a marathon instead of crawling towards the entrance of a room twenty feet away.

"Please don't congratulate me, Mrs. Able, not until – until my hand touches that door. Then we c-can throw a party."

Long minutes dragged on, the sound of Nora's progress filled the room with small groans, panting and dry sobs.

A deep well of frustration was rising up in her. It wasn't fair, it wasn't fair, _it wasn't fucking fair._ How had this happened? _Why_ was this happening to her? How could God or Fate or Whatever allow so much death to surround her?

She could see the man's face, this man who pulled the trigger, who spread her husbands brain across metal and glass as clear as a photo. It was a face that had no interest in her, a face of a man who stepped on lives without thought. He had stepped on her life as though she were lower than dirt, and was a widow and childless as a result of it.

Another inch, another pod, another face of another neighbor who remained peaceful and cold and dead. She was envious; their troubles were over and hers were just beginning.

Death was all around her, would Nora die as well? Did she want to die? What would she find in the world above? How would she even begin to find Shaun?

The thought of those tiny helpless little hands, those bright blue eyes ( _he had his fathers eyes_ ) alone, in the hands of God knows what, created a deep well of terror inside of Nora that allowed her to ignore everything else. What had happened to her son? Why was he taken, why had she been left here?

She felt heat now, and it was rising in her. She dragged bloody and ripped nails across a cold metal floor and didn't feel it. Her limbs shook like a druggie in withdrawal and it only made her angrier. The blood was rising to her head; her world was burning now, she could see red. The tears had evaporated, _because no tears were going to bring her_ j _ustice_ , her breathing was strong, _her body, it had to become strong for what was to come_ , and her lips pulled back in a silent snarl _because she was going to rip that fuckers throat out when she caught up to him_.

Nora slammed a hand upon the cold lever of the doorway, _and rose up_.

"Nate."

She spoke his name without turning,

"I will leave this vault, I will find our son, and I _will murder the piece of shit that shot you and anyone else who gets in my way_. Goodbye, Nate. I love you."

* * *

Fingers tapped on a keyboard, and a woman's murmur filled the silence of the room. There was a pause as Nora scraped the bottom of a metal can with a fork, digging out the remaining Cram, and absentmindedly ate the pink goop. It was 7:58 am.

Her eyes were focused on a screen before her that held the final words of the Overseer of Vault 111.

' _I was worried there would be more suspicion but things happened so fast for these people. They must have been too overwhelmed to question the cryogenic pods.'_

"Oh you _bastard."_

It was strange, reading the thoughts and hopes of a dead man. After leaving the cryogenic array escaping had turned out to be more difficult than she could have imagined.

Nora had stumbled and crawled through what seemed like endless tunnels and rooms before she found something resembling a resting place. The Overseers room, it had turned out. Small wonder, Vault-tec lived up to its reputation and everything inside the Vault was more or less functional and intact, including running water and emergency lighting.

What they _didn't_ take into account was several malfunctions that blocked her access to the main Vault door, and her freedom.

There wasn't much information in the way of the Overseers journal. Obviously something had gone wrong; even if she hadn't found the still-working office terminal the bullet holes and perfectly preserved remains of the Vault 111 resident staff members would have clued her off to some kind of inner turmoil.

' _There's been no All Clear Signal yet, even though we're nearing the end of the 180 day Mandatory Shelter Period. Supplies were never intended to last much more than that. If people think we can just leave when the 180 days are up, they're insane. The radioactive exposure would still be potent enough to fry everyone if the Vault seals are breached that early. I don't know what to do. I can't open the Vault. I can't expect supplies to last forever. I have to keep everything under control until the All Clear'_

Nora cast a glance back behind her and callously lobbed the empty can of Cram at the jumble of bones behind her, hitting her mark and scattering rotting cloth and mandible alike across the dirty floor. On what was the breast pocket of the material had been a once-shiny badge that read 'Overseer' now tarnished and black.

"But the All Clear never came, did it? Serves you right, you crap Overseer. Was it fun? Herding us like stupid sheep to the slaughter? When the hell did you intend to release us, huh? Fucking bastard."

Strength was slowly returning to her, she could now pace the halls like a trapped animal instead of sleeping for hours and hours on end. Keeping track of time became an obsession; everything was functional in this mausoleum, including the clocks that ran on the same fusion powered core reactor that ran everything else in the Vault. Nora would have marveled at it, if it weren't for the fact food was literally gone. 8:24 am.

Vault Security, in one of their final acts of defiance against the Overseer, had hidden away nonperishables and a 10mm gun with five boxes of ammunition. Nora had discovered it the previous day as desperation and hunger had pushed her to consider eating the rotten tablecloth inside the cafeteria but instead stumbled across a loose tile in the floor that led to the bounty.

So now her hopes lie in the scattered journal entries she scavenged from the rooms that were still open and available to her.

 _There_!

There was script at the bottom of the terminal were the words Nora had been hoping to find since she had started combing through entries and script since early that morning.

 **Open Evacuation Tunnel Y/N?**

With trembling hands she typed **YES**

 **Personal evacuation tunnel open. The personnel evacuation tunnel is now open. Remind all staff to be orderly and follow shutdown protocols before exiting and re-sealing Vault 111.**

Nora let out a bark of laughter. 8:48am.

"Orderly shutdown, huh? Sure, I'll even close the door on my way out."

From her lap she lifted the handgun and slid the safety off and secured it into the belt of the Vault suit. On the desk next to the terminal was a makeshift bag of sorts – really, it was just the least fragmented bed sheet she could find that held all the supplies that Vault 111 had.

A laughable paltry reserve of filled containers of water, the remaining ammunition, a working lighter and two blankets that were ratty and filled with holes but would be warm in case she had to sleep outdoors.

A strange calm had fallen over Nora.

Here she stood at the edge of a new world, where literally she had no idea of what lay outside the vault doors. Would there be monsters? Roaming gangs of bandits? Would there be nothing but a wall of silence, a world that was long dead? All these thoughts and more should have had her quaking in her Vault-tec boots.

But there was only the thought of leaving the Vault, and finding the nearest clue to Shaun. He had to be alive. No, he WAS alive, she could feel it. Would there be anyone out there? Those people, that man – they had to have come from somewhere so _someone_ survived the bombs.

The floor shuddered beneath her feet, from a long distance she could hear something mechanical, something that was heavy and grinding and her heart sped up.

Sure enough the exit was found through a series of tunnels that had been previously blocked. 9:00 am. It would be morning, when she reached the surface. When she reached the surface.

Nora was racing now, feet echoing loudly off the metal grating of the walkway. Through dark rooms, shadowed and rusted pathways, the only sound her heartbeat and heavy breathing

"What the hell is THAT?!"

Nora stopped short of a great arching doorway that must have been, and immediately backed up.

Jesus, it was the size of a dog! But –

a… cockroach. Nora wasn't particularly for or against bugs but when they were big enough to come up to your kneecaps -

"Goddamn, that IS a cockroach. What- why the hell is it so BIG?"

The creature's antennas waved frantically as though sensing her presence and skittered towards her on spindly legs. Nora had no idea if it wanted to eat her or sensed body heat or what but she didn't want to find out if it would bite.

Spooked she took the handgun and took aim.

One shot that was deafening in the tiny space, then two.

"Oh, _gross_. I hope that washes off."

From somewhere not far away she could hear more noises of things crawling, clicking against the metal flooring and she hurried through the great doorway before they realized fresh meat was on the menu.

This had to be the right place. Here, splayed on the floor like macabre puppets with the strings severed were the bodies of the remaining Vault-tec personnel. Was it a massacre? Did they turn on each other in desperation or did they actually get the great door open and immediately die from the poisonous levels of radiation?

Nora didn't know and couldn't muster the interest to care about the fate of her would-be captors and tormentors. As far as she was concerned they were all culpable in some extremely unethical behavior.

She snorted to herself, imagining the field day her office would have taking Vault-tec to task in a court of law. With any luck Vault-tec died in nuclear fire and was burning in hell right now.

And right now…

She took each step slowly, rising towards what looked like the control panel. Technology wasn't her strong suit, and if the door required some complicated password or key…

With her sleeve she wiped the panel, relieved to find it powered. She pressed a few buttons. Nothing. There was a circle plug that read, 'Pipboy Docking System' and felt her stomach drop. Nora took a step back and jumped as her foot connected with something hollow sounding that clattered loudly.

"Well, what do you know."

Bending down Nora grabbed the bony remains of the arm and wrist of whoever had spend his (her?) last remaining moments trying to get the Vault door open (maybe they had?). On the wrist was a strange looking contraption; small, compact, like a wrist cuff with a computer strapped to it. It sat heavily on her arm but fit snugly.

Nora wiped the screen and frowned. It didn't look like it was working, but if it was Vault-tec it had to have been powered by fusion energy and therefore should work for a thousand years or more.

Ah. On the side was a switch. She held her breath and almost cried with relief as it made a familiar whirring sound as the screen lit up and came to life.

 **Copyright 2075 ROBCO  
64K RAM SYSTEM  
38911 BYTES FREE  
LOAD ROM (1) DEITRIX 303'**

 **STATUS INVENTORY DATA MAP RADIO**

She had heard about the Pipboy, mostly through Nate, who had a keen interest in the newest and greatest gadgets. It was a portable computer capable of nearly everything including guidance, real-time map locations all the way to complex biological scans that could name every single thing going on in your body. It was a powerful tool and for a moment Nora clasped it fiercely to her chest, thankful for this small break in her survival. It meant she had a way to navigate the world outside the Vault.

Letting out a deep shuddering breath she went back to the control panel and lifted out the plug from the side of the Pipboy and connected it.

There was a heart stopping moment of silence but the Pipboy made a mechanical whirring noise again and the words

'VAULT DOOR REMOTE ACCESS READY'

Came to the screen. The room was coming alive. Nora jumped as the flashing lights and a warning horn shattered the silence.

" _Vault door cycling sequence initiated. Please stand back."_

Everything started to move; hydraulics kicked in, squealing with disuse and in desperate need of maintenance, and the great metal gates opened with a deafening metallic scream.

The elevator to the world above.

There was a small moment of panic when Nora stood on the platform and wondered how she was supposed to, for lack of a better word, press the 'up' button when the gates rolled shut and a mechanical voice said,

" _Emergency Vault Elevator occupant detected. Please keep your hands and feet inside the circle. Enjoy your return to the surface. And thank you for choosing Vault-Tec"_

With a jarring jolt, the elevator rose, along with Nora's heart, and she went towards the blinding light. 9:48am.


	3. Chapter 3

Fallout 4: The Sole Survivor  
Chapter 3  
The New World

Every shudder and bump the elevator made sent Nora's heart racing, worried that any moment her hard won freedom might be taken away. Now that the prospect of freedom was right before her, she knew the thought of going back into the cold, damp dark underground silent bunker would haunt the edges of her mind for a long time. _Don't think, don't remember what lies beneath. You're alive, Nora, You're ALIVE!_

She knew her impatience made everything seem slower; an endless journey through a black hole cut in the crust of the earth with only the safety lights to illuminate the darkness. She could feel her ears pop from the sudden rise in elevation. This was taking too long! The clammy cold made her vault suit stick to her back. Maybe she would be trapped forever in this stupid elevator, immobile in darkness. Nora didn't think she could stand it for another second, could feel the panic, the sob rising in her throat-

 _Light!_

Blinding, searing light came so suddenly upon her Nora gasped deep in her throat, almost choking on the clean, clear air that suddenly filled her lungs. The safety cage of the emergency elevator slowed, the hydraulics hissing as it came to a smooth stop.

Tears streamed down Nora's eyes, unaccustomed to the blazing brightness after having lived in semi-darkness for so long. Hand clasping a metal rail, she wiped away the wetness, waiting for the blurred landscape before her to come into focus.

This is the new world.

For a moment Nora stood stock still, confused. It was… the same. Those last chaotic moments before the bombs fell, when Nate clasped her and Shaun close to him as they made the mad dash for the platform, it hadn't given Nora much time to take in the surrounds.

But…

Yes, those shipping containers were there… and the makeshift platform with the Vault controls, the metal crane and beyond that….

How much time had passed since she had been frozen?

Nora stepped off the platform and simply looked. Clearly a great force had swept tree, container and debris alike violently towards the mountains as though a great hand had pushed them all down. She couldn't imagine how much energy it took to upend a bulldozer but it there it lie on it's back as though it were a gutted animal.

It took a moment to realize what the ringing sound in the back of her head was; it was silence.

True silence. No traffic, airplanes, human noise or even birdsong. It was disquieting.

A breeze gently rustled the vegetation that had taken over the site and the metal of the platform that overlooked the Vault 111 entrance groaned musically. There was the flutter of wings; strange misshapen black birds rose silently into the air and landed not twenty feet away in the dead branches of a tree. They pranced uneasily, jostling for position, but made no sound but for the clatter of wings.

Not all was dead then.

Cautiously Nora tested her weight against the steps and pushed through over grown creeping vines blocking the doorway of the tiny enclosure.

More jumbled masses of bones, or what was left of them; years of weathering had swept away most of the remains, except for a few unidentified fragments and a partial foot.

A cursory search added a few more rounds and a small medical kit that crumbled when Nora picked it up. She blew away dirt and wiped a thumb across the cold metal tube that read 'Stimpak Health Dispenser'. The medical paraphernalia was welcome and familiar – her own office had no less than two medical kits that had a '500 year guarantee' by Lee Rapid Pharmaceuticals, one of the largest manufacturing companies in the West.

Nora remembered a contact who had regular dealings with the medical staff's judicial needs. Apparently, not unsurprisingly, to remain ahead of the competition there had been experimental and dangerous trials that hadn't always ended well and lawsuits were aplenty.

Rising to her feet Nora caught a glimpse out the blown out window to the south side and gasped.

There were structures in the distance, Sanctuary Hills still stood!

Ignoring the squealing protest of the metal beneath her feet, Nora flung herself down the stairs and went home.

Retracing her steps down the path was a surreal and dizzying experience, almost as bad as the day she was torn from her home. The twisted, gnarled trees were as remembered but she had to fight massive and overgrown bushes, pushing around and past rock and boulder that had been uplifted and flung into the walkway.

Missing a step landed her foot into one of the many estuaries of the great Charles River and Nora jumped back, startled by the sudden desperate ticking sound coming the Pipboy on her arm.

It was going wild and almost sounded like…

Flipping between Location and Status she found a tiny bar that was red with radiation. Of course, that would make sense – there was a built in Geiger counter that was reacting to the levels of radiation in the river. From the readout it was low enough to not be immediately harmful but Nora stepped away all the same. Well, that answered the question whether or not the radiation levels were survivable.

She traced her steps downstream, carefully navigating stone and flowing water, taking note of the strange plants that were like a giant blood red water lily. It was beautiful and alien; great crimson leaves threaded with yellow veins. Nothing like that had existed when she lived in Sanctuary Hills. Had every grown in size? First those cockroaches and now a plant that looked like it belonged in the middle of a jungle.

It took a few long moments to adjust her brain to what she was looking at. Sanctuary Hills stretched before Nora, scoured, derelict, dilapidated. Completely abandoned.

Nora's heart sped up, unsettled by the complete lack of any life, anywhere. _Oh God, I hope I'm not the only person out here._

The homes were gutted, skeletal remains and a few had completely collapsed in on itself. Rough vegetation and taken over most of paved roads, dotted here and there by streetlamps that stood out like leafless trees.

Nora made slow progress, trying to ignore the tightness of her throat, the rising terror of being completely out of her depth.

It was an eerie homage to the day the world ended; she could see furniture, television sets, standing exactly where they had been the day the entire neighborhood had run to the Vault.

Cars were still parked underneath carports, though through the passage of time the older models were rusted out lumps of metal, while the newer fusion-run automobiles seemed peculiarly untouched. There was even what looked like the half disintegrated body of a lawnmower abandoned in a sea of waist high grass.

As Nora stood considering the Callahan's residence and if it were structurally sound enough for her to perhaps make a shelter out of she became aware of faint sound.

It hadn't been audible at first, over the rustling of wind moving through the abandoned neighborhood but faintly… something mechanical and high pitched.

It sounded like someone trimming the hedges.

The ludicrousness of the comparison made Nora involuntarily snort as she sought out the source of the noise. Gun firmly in hand she crept along the side of the house, and gaped.

" _Codsworth!_ "

Nora could hardly believe what she was looking at, but it was her propane propelled floating ball of a robotic butler – trimming a rampantly overgrown hedge that all but swallowed up the sidewalk and… her and Nate's home. She was home.

The robot propelled itself around and Codsworth's eyestalks rotated, almost as though confused.

"Welcome to our happy home, Mum. Can I get you a drink?"

"No, Codsworth – it's me. It's Nora, don't you-"

"Welcome to our happy home, Mum, Can I get you a drink?"

The robot didn't bother to wait for an answer before he went back to his hopeless task of maintaining the wild shrubbery. In a way, Nora supposed it made sense – if one was to assume it had been, oh God what- thirty years? Fifty? since the bombs had dropped and he had been trying to maintain a broken home, isolated with no one to maintain him…

A well of frustration rose up in Nora.

" _Goddammit!_ "

She struck her foot against the side of a rusted mailbox that had fallen to the ground and jumped guiltily as it ricocheted off the dilapidated side of the house and hit Codsworth square in the back of his head, spinning him around.

"Welcome to our- ou-our, a drink?"

"Oh, shit, sorry Codsworth."

"Would you-you…. Mum? Is that… you?"

* * *

"Say it again, Codsworth."

"Mum, really…"

"Please, Codsworth."

"Very well, Mum. You and Sir and young Shaun dashed to the Vault a little over two hundred and ten years ago and I have tried my best, Mum, my very best to maintain in your absence but nothing gets nuclear fallout from vinyl wood, nothing!"

Nora sat on the weathered cement steps to her home and rubbed her face, wondering if she pressed hard enough into her throbbing temples she could make the headache go away. _Two hundred years_. It seemed impossible – a real life Rip Van Wrinkle but instead of crusty bearded old drunken men and waking up twenty years in the future it was a deeply unethical highly experimental cryogenic experimentation that put her right in the middle of a world she knew nothing about.

"They're… they are really gone, aren't they, Mum?'

She looked up in surprise; the anguish was true in his voice. Codsworth, the robotic butler whose loyalty was immovable enough to keep him tethered to his masters home for two centuries. How undeserving she felt of such faithfulness.

Gently she tweaked one of his eyestalks.

"I'm here, Codsworth, and I am going to find Shaun."

"What about Concord, Mum? Plenty of people there. Last I checked, they only pummeled me with sticks a few times before I had to run back ho-"

" _What_!? You've seen people!?"

Nora jumped up, clasping the rounded sides of Codsworth, whose appendages wriggled with anxiety.

"Yes, of course, Mum! They've always been here, in one form or another, if you would please-"

"Sorry, Codsworth."

Nora let go of him and started pacing.

"I have to go. I have to start looking, hell, I have to find out, well, everything I suppose. How did they survive? Where do they live? _How_ do they live out here – there's nothing but irradiated water and a bunch of weird plants! "

"May I humbly suggest, Mum, that you keep your firearm close at hand. I am very sorry to inform you it is not a nice world."

Nora pushed the memory of ice and blood aside and replied,

"I know."

The cold hardness in her voice made Codsworth's eye stalks rotate with nervousness.

"I – I am ashamed to admit, Mum, that I would not be much use outside of Sanctuary Hills. I will stay here and maintain in your absence, as I have done in the past. You.. you will come back, won't you?"

Nora gathered her small satchel and checked the gun.

"Yes, Codsworth. I will be back, I promise."

* * *

It was almost like navigating a room in the dark – bumping along the edges of familiar things while mostly being lost in the dark. Technically, Nora knew where she was going – outside of Sanctuary Hills was the I-93 North West that led to Concord, the closest neighboring town. It would be a bit of a walk but it could be done within a day with luck. She could perhaps expect to reach it by nightfall if she kept a good pace and didn't run into any trouble.

It was with some surprise that Nora realized that she felt… fine. None of the fatigue or illness she had felt in those first days out of the frozen metal coffin in the cryogenic facility.

The day was long, hot and dusty. And strange. So quiet, so isolated, it was like being on the surface of the moon; still, covered by a fine dust, familiar yet so alien.

Even with the expansive amount of time that had passed everything was the same. Moved a few hundred yards by the force of the atom bomb, but like a strange washed out snapshot. Nora was following the broken pieces of what was left of the highway. Nature had already taken back large expanses of it; the yellow divider line was difficult to make out through the broken rubble and tawny plants.

Beside her was an unexpected and welcome surprise. Not far from Sanctuary Hills was the burnt out remains of one of the numerous Red Rocket refueling stations that should have been empty but for a large, beautiful German Sheppard dog.

Nora had almost shot the poor thing, until he had rolled over onto his back, tongue lolling and grinned at her. It didn't take long to see that he was a domestic trained animal; the bandana tied around his neck said he had an owner, once, and he had no fear or qualms about being close to Nora. In fact, it was all she could do to keep him from washing her with his tongue. Where, how and why he had been at the Red Rocket was pushed to the back of her mind. Nora selfishly didn't bother to look for anyone; she was starved of any connection to the living and felt her throat tighten with unshed tears as the dog gladly followed her as she set out towards Concord. He seemed just as happy to be with her as she was with him.

It eased her heart, some. She wasn't alone and this dog could defend himself _and_ her better than she could, at the moment. Apparently the cockroaches weren't the only insects that had been mutated to frightening proportions and her companion was all too eager to leap into the air like a furry missile to take down a monster dragonfly the size of a large toy airplane.

Ignoring the joyful crunching noises behind her Nora surveyed the scattered and bleak landscape. They weren't far from Concord now; she could see the dark silhouetted shapes of structures against the dying sun.

No lights, no movement. Her stomach sank.

Evening had almost shrouded everything in shadow by the time Nora and the dog crept beyond the suburbs of broken, empty homes. The small city hadn't fared much better over the centuries; while most of the structures had survived they were sunken, unstable. The slight wind whistled through the dead silence, little groans of metal and settling debris made her jumpy and on edge. Her companion felt the tension too- his ears were alert, twitching with every small noise.

Large rusted out cars lay haphazardly in the road, flung over like a giant toddler had grown tired of them and hurled them against buildings, or lie forlornly in the middle of the broken street. Little pinpricks of light blinked to life; to Nora's astonishment the streetlamps still functioned. Such a strange thing to think the fusion powered electricity still worked, after all this time. It didn't help the décor much; everything still looked hollowed and worn, made that much more eerie by the stark shadows the sudden brightness caused.

It wasn't until she was almost to the center of Concord before she realized that she recognized she was heading towards the historic quarter ( _though one must suppose that the entire city is now a historic quarter_ ). Wayward memories floated to the surface of her mind. Fallon's Department Store, yes, Nora had just returned a dress that had loose stitching and had fallen open on the side. Nate had found her peek-a-boo outfit hilarious and couldn't resist poking a finger through the hole, tickling her until she had cried…

The dog wound his way around Nora, whining and licking her wet face.

Nora wondered how long the ghost of her memories were going to haunt her in this new world. Not her world, not yet. Not while the memory of blood was still fresh.

Rising out of the darkened sky was a familiar landmark – the rising spire of a church, which must mean the Museum of Freedom must be a few blocks ahead of her.

Out of the silent night gunshots rang out, startling Nora, making her jump and setting her heart racing.

It was as though that single gunshot had been a signal for the night to light up in flashes of light, noise and screams. Yes, indeed, there were people here, and they seemed to be intent on recreating the war that had destroyed everything.

" _No, dog-!"_

Her companion slung himself low to the ground, teeth bared, ears back, and made a stealthy beeline for the commotion, sliding eel-like out of her grasp. Nora drew the pistol and, heart thumping painfully in her chest, followed.

He was much faster than she; barely ten steps and Nora heard an agonized scream and the furious barking of the dog. Terrified that she was about to lose her furry friend she launched herself running at a breakneck speed and rounded the corner of a brick building to see-

-to see blood and chaos. For a breathtaking and exhilarating moment she watched her companion in action. There was a perfect moment of stillness, perhaps exacerbated by adrenaline, fear and panic, that painted the scene before her like a still from a macabre horror film.

The man, who wore a strange and familiar uniform that lay crumped underneath a street lamp. Fusion generated light bright and clear as day illuminated the crimson pool of blood underneath him, smeared almost artistically across the white of the uniform, splashing out over the broken sidewalk before the door of the Museum of Freedom.

Her dog, ferocious, growling like a bear, like the three headed Cerebos of the underworld, jaws dripping in the blood of one of his attackers. Refusing to leave the fallen man, had he been his master, his only family in this harsh land?

The group of people who surrounded the fallen man, and her companion, all aggressive stances and dressed like… like the man who had held the gun to her husband's temple before pulling the trigger.

Mish-mashed pieces of armor, scraps of muddy colored clothing, heavy boots, spikes and guns. It was the eyes, though, the eyes that set the blood rushing in Nora's ears.

Demons. Monsters. Cold and black eyed and pitiless as the barrel of the gun that had destroyed her by taking that which was precious to her. There was a screaming roar in her head, blotting out sense and sound and blood, _blood, blood,_ _ **she wanted fucking blood.**_

Pain. Distant and coming closer.

Something had her ankle and Nora gasped, jerking as though cold water had been splashed on her face. She looked down.

The dog held on tightly to her ankle, whining in the back of his throat, sounding almost quizzical and worried. Everything.. ached. God! Her head was throbbing, her breath came in great gusty sobs, what… ?

Nora looked at her hand, which held the gun. The gun.. that was splashed liberally in blood. Her arms were coated with the substance too and all around her…

Someone whistled and without even realizing she whipped the pistol towards the sound before someone said,

"Whoa! Whoa there, I'm on your side! _Trust me_ , after what I just saw I am definitely on your side."

On the balcony above her, above the entrance of the museum was a well-built man, leaning over looking at Nora as though he couldn't quite believe his eyes.

He had on the same strange uniform as the man who lay dead at her feet, that was like something out of a history museum. It was kind of a like a western duster, nearly reaching to his knees, with large over-sized lapels. Elbow length heavy-duty leather gloves and something that almost looked like a cravat around his throat topped with a tricorn hat. It tickled the back of her memory; Nora was certain she had seen something similar, somewhere.

He held a bizarre-looking rifle that was part sci-fi and part antique. The barrel _glowed_ as though it had its very own fusion core in the center. Perhaps it did, she wished Nate were here to tell her.

"Hey, not to put too fine a point on it but I've got settlers inside, civilians! Decent folk who are about to get wiped out by more of those raiders. I… I need help. I need your help. Please."

It was all happening too fast, this wasn't how it was supposed to happen! Nora had come to Concord to seek help for _her_ not… not play soldier for this man and a bunch of strangers. What could she do, she wasn't a fighter!

Yet, the carnage behind her said otherwise. Breathing deeply she asked,

"More are coming?"

"Yes! _Please, help me_! Take his laser musket; he won't be using it anymore. Hurry, we're on the top floor!"

He didn't wait for an answer but rushed back through the balcony doors and she was left alone with a choice.

Well. She had wanted to find people and she had found them. Her hands were shaking. Kneeling, she grasped the barrel of the long rifle that had fallen from the man's grasp, ignoring the blank opaque stare of the recently dead.

The dog barked loudly and wagged his tail, scratching at the door, as if he already knew her answer.

"What the hell, let's be heroes."

Nora slung the rifle over her shoulder and pushed the museum door open.


End file.
